


Smudged Ink and Smiles

by QueenNeehola



Category: Bravely Default: Flying Fairy
Genre: Canon Compliant, M/M, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-10
Updated: 2015-07-10
Packaged: 2018-04-08 16:19:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4311999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenNeehola/pseuds/QueenNeehola
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ringabel didn’t care about birds, not really, but he cared about Tiz’s smile.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Smudged Ink and Smiles

**Author's Note:**

> (set during chapter 6 after the party chat "bird watching" in the witherwood!  
> if you're not familiar with it then basically: ringabel wrote notes about birds on his hand to try and impress tiz who is into bird-watching  
> ALSO there's very mild spoilers for...where the gang ends up from chapter 5 onwards)
> 
> i was playing bd and got that party chat and i honestly could not stop thinking about it because i can't believe they tried to sell ringabel as straight when he does shit like this  
> anyway i wrote this in like 15 minutes sorry my writing is a mess

“So…were you really just trying to impress me?”

Ringabel started as Tiz settled next to him, dead leaves crackling under the boy’s weight.  Tiz glanced at Ringabel’s hand; the ink was smudged into imperceptible markings but the memory and embarrassment remained, and Ringabel covered the skin self-consciously.

“Well, I,” he began, and then said no more, realising he had no rebuff to Tiz’s words.  He fell into awkward silence, cheeks growing faintly warmer as he kept his gaze fixed stubbornly on Edea and Agnès sitting several feet away.  Edea was apparently contenting herself during their rest stop by fixing Agnès’ hair into various ‘cute’ styles while the Vestal sat pliantly before her.

 

“Don’t be embarrassed!” Tiz blurted suddenly, and Ringabel couldn’t help but turn his head to look at the other boy then—dappled sunlight through the Witherwood trees caught Tiz’s eyelashes, nose, cheeks; made him look like he was glowing—and there was the look in his eye that he usually reserved for talking to Agnès, and Ringabel wasn’t quite sure how he felt about that, except his heart was apparently _very_ excited at the observation if all the thrumming in his chest was anything to go by.

“I mean,” Tiz continued, and then he looked down and away and Ringabel found it much easier to stare when he wasn’t being stared back at, “it was nice of you to do that.  No one had ever really shown interest in it before.  Except…Til.”

Ringabel didn’t miss the fleeting melancholy smile on Tiz’s face at the mention of his lost brother.  Alive in this world or no, it was evident it just wasn’t the same.  “Ah,” he said, coherent sentence structure still evading him in favour of admiring Tiz’s profile, “I see.”

 

But then Tiz looked back again and smiled, a genuine, proper smile, and if Ringabel wasn’t blinded then he was certainly in love.

“We could go bird-watching together sometime?”  It probably, _definitely_ wasn’t meant to sound like a date, but—with the soft breeze ruffling Tiz’s hair; and the light catching his eyes and making them shine; and Edea _grinning_ at him from where she sat, Ringabel just _knew_ she was—how was it meant to be anything else to Ringabel’s ears?

 

Ringabel didn’t care about birds, not really, but he cared about Tiz’s smile, wanted to preserve it for even a moment longer during their uncertain journey.

So, “Y-Yes,” he agreed, and if his own attempt at a smile came out shaky and lopsided, Tiz was too polite to mention it, “I’d like that.”


End file.
